Folks, I know this article will be taking twists and turns and end up pretty long, so let’s get started with a very recent legal issue that is just now developing due to recent illegal acts by the Cleveland County School Board regarding the botched sale of the old Central School in Kings Mountain.

The sale of real estate owned by local school boards worth more than $30,000 (Such as the Old North Shelby School and now the old Central School in Kings Mountain is well covered by North Carolina Law. I mean WELL covered. So WELL covered that one would never expect there would be problems. And there never are problems, unless there is corruption involved. Which seems to happen a lot in Cleveland County, North Carolina. And, all the time with the Cleveland County School Board with Chairman Robert “Luke” Queen and Rodney Fitch, Joel Shores, Ron Humphries and Greg Taylor.

In the case of the old Central School in Kings Mountain:
1.The first thing the school board has to do is decide that the property is of no more use for educational purposes and the property should be disposed of.
2.The School Board then has to offer the property to the Cleveland County Commissioners at a fair market price. Only if the Commissioners decline to purchase the property can the property be disposed of by other means.
3.A method of disposal is chosen by the School Board. The “Method” chosen was by Public Auction.
4.The Public Auction method is well described in NC Law.
5.The School Board advertises the property for auction. The bidding process has a deadline, When that deadline comes due, the bids are opened and the highest bidder is notified that he (or she) is the highest bidder and a 5% payment to the Schools is required. Then there is an upset bid process that follows. Anybody can upset the bid by offering not less than 10% more than the highest bidder. The upset process continues until there are no more upset bids provided. The highest bidder then pays the full amount bid, minus the deposits.
6.The property is titled over to the winning bidder.

In this case, the highest bid was $750,000 offered by Mike Brown. Mr. Brown was notified by CCS that he was the high bidder and that he had to provide a 5% deposit of $37,500 within a certain period of time. Mr. Brown obtained a Cashiers Check of $37,500 made out to CCS and hand-delivered that check immediately to CCS.

This is where the CCS corruption kicked-in.

Others, possibly considering themselves more “worthy” than Mike Brown, (I usually call these high-falutin sob’s the Country Club “Good Ole Boys”) and likely someone who submitted a low-ball bid in an attempt to “steal” the Central School Property for themselves in the first place and then made some phone calls to certain persons at CCS or even to School Board members to solicit (bribe) the school board into somehow kicking out Mr. Brown’s high bid.

The next thing that happens is CCS sends Mr. Mike Brown’s certified check for $37,500 back to Mr. Brown and the School Board votes (at their November, 2021 School Board meeting) to illegally “Table” the sale of the Central School to Mr. Brown until the January 10, 2022 School Board meeting.

Who knows what conspiracy (a felony-criminal act) was going on during this time? But, when January 10, 2022 rolls around, Gastonia Attorney Doug Arthurs (Mike Brown’s Attorney) shows up at the School Board meeting and signs up for Citizens Participation.

My article No-Nonsense Lawyer Tames School Board Rogue Republicans!!! At January 10, 2022 CCS School Board Meeting!!! Published January 12, 2022 describes this event. Scroll on back and re-read that article.

At the January 10th 2022 School Board meeting, after a closed session with the school board attorney, the school board votes to accept Mr. Browns high bid of $750,000 for the old Central School in Kings Mountain-Subject to a belated upset bid process!!! And NEVER explaining why Mr. Brown’s bid was tabled for two months.

Editor’s Note #1: North Carolina law has no provision for tabling the acceptance of a high bid in the Public Auction process and then restarting the upset bid process two months later.

Editor’s Note #2: North Carolina law does have alternative provisions for disposing of surplus school property (only) as follows:
Provided, however, a city may dispose of real property of any value and personal property valued at thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) or more for any one item or group of similar items by private negotiation and sale where (i) said real or personal property is significant for its architectural, archaeological, artistic, cultural or historical associations, or significant for its relationship to other property significant for architectural, archaeological, artistic, cultural or historical associations, or significant for its natural, scenic or open condition; and (ii) said real or personal property is to be sold to a nonprofit corporation or trust whose purposes include the preservation or conservation of real or personal properties of architectural, archaeological, artistic, cultural, historical, natural or scenic significance; and (iii) where a preservation agreement or conservation agreement as defined in G.S. 121-35 is placed in the deed conveying said property from the city to the nonprofit corporation or trust. Said nonprofit corporation or trust shall only dispose of or use said real or personal property subject to covenants or other legally binding restrictions which will promote the preservation or conservation of the property, and, where appropriate, secure rights of public access.

NOW, the corruption and criminal conspiracy has become apparent. Read on for the proof. And I know how much my readers enjoy facts and truth.

The January 26th, 2022 edition of the Kings Mountain Herald has TWO front page (above the fold) articles titled:
1.New group submits bid for Central School. A group called Central School Renovation Partners, LLC, organized by John McGill filed for a Limited Liability Corporation with the NC Secretary of State on January 18, 2022 and offered the second upset bid on the Central School in Kings Mountain. Many months after the School Board decided to sell the Central School at Public Auction. Which was way past time for the School Board to change from their Public Auction process. Legally anyway. But when corruption runs rampant, it is never too late to lie, cheat and steal.
2.City Declined purchase of Central School; current bid is $866,300
Both of these articles contain proof of the crime and corruption that has become the MO of the Cleveland County School Board.

But, before we go there, let’s remember that:
The School Board, in 2021, voted to hold a Public Auction to dispose of the Central School in Kings Mountain. Such a vote clearly shows that CCS did NOT vote to sell or dispose of the Central School property in Kings Mountain by any other process. (Such as Historic preservation, etc.)
The illegal and bad acts by the Cleveland County School Board have damaged Mr. Mike Brown financially. Caused unnecessary delay with his project, whatever it may have been. And restricted, diminished or eliminated Mr. Brown’s future income and revenue generation for his planned project. All recoverable under Tort law in North Carolina.
Mr. Brown has been denied equal treatment under the law as required by the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. Excellent grounds for a Federal Lawsuit against Cleveland County Schools because the Cleveland County School Board has illegally flip-flopped in mid-stream. From one law to another to benefit the high-falutin Good Ole Boys.
Also, the Kings Mountain Herald articles mention some communications between CCS and the Cleveland Community College. Just like the dubious sale of the old North Shelby School to Mt. Calvary Baptist Church (run by the Rev. Dr. Lamont Littlejohn) School Board Chairman Robert “Luke” Queen’s finger prints are all over this present controversy.

So, folks, this is exactly where we stand this very day with the CCS disposal of the old Central School in Kings Mountain. Mr. Mike Brown is the only person playing by the rules and the law, although called a “bad character” by those Kings Mountain folks who appear to be trying to do crooked stuff. And the “Holier than Thou” impersonators and hypocrites (including the School Board Rogue Republicans and the Central School Renovation Partners) appear to be the crooks and liars here. The “real” bad actors in the bunch. But, ain’t it always like that in Cleveland County.

So, what will happen next?

My prediction is the stupid games will be played a bit longer by Luke Queen and the School Board. Mr. Mike Brown and his No-Nonsense Attorney Doug Arthurs will watch and wait for the right time. And then pop lawsuits against the CCS School Board in both State and Federal Courts. And, as always, us taxpayers will end up paying the Jury verdict or settlement in favor of Mr. Mike Brown.

Stay tuned folks, for the other parts of this article that will be forthcoming very soon. Hopefully all y’all will wake up and realize these kinds of messes are all our fault for electing crooks and liars to elected offices in the first place.

Four words describe the January 25th 2022 Called School Board meeting”

A WASTE OF TIME!!! or A WASTE OF MONEY!!! Depending on your mood. The only good thing I can say about this meeting, or whatever you want to call; it was a perfect example of what NOT TO DO when you are an elected school board member when the school board is obviously hiding information from the public. Be obvious about it!!!

The first problem for the Rogue Republicans on the Cleveland County School Board is to explain why they hired expensive consultants to do a “facilities assessment” and then call a special meeting for January 25, 2022 that has absolutely nothing to do with assessing facilities. And everything to do with counting students at various Shelby elementary schools and deciding none of these schools were at full capacity. That moving some students around to different schools to fill up certain schools with under-capacity that would allow you to shut down two of the elementary schools. Just about any 9th grade High School student about half way through an Algebra 1 class with a C+ average could figure that out in about 15 minutes.

So, why hadn’t the $14 Million renovated CCS Central Offices chock full of PhD’s. and Master Degrees galore already have this all figured out years ago? Why the Rogue Republicans had to spend big bucks for an architect team to do this simple task? This kind of poor planning and poor leadership is beyond me. Perhaps someone should ask Rodney Fitch, Luke Queen, Ron Humphries, Joel Shores and Greg Taylor about this sometime soon. Before they have to think about something a bit harder and they hurt themselves trying. Do they have a case of “phronemophobia?” (The fear of “thinking!”)

Folks, this is what happened at the Special (that was not special) Called School Board Meeting held January 25, 2022.

Without belaboring this point, the school board voted 9-0 to hold a “Public Hearing” on this date. North Carolina Law has special rules for “Public Hearings” so Luke Queen changes the name to a “Public Meeting.” Then to a “Public Forum” and back to a so-called “Public Hearing” as listed on the Agenda for this January 25, 2022 meeting.

The Public, by the way, was not fooled a bit by the School Board shenanigans. They just went into the “ignore” mode and mostly stayed home.

As you walked into the CCS Central Offices front door, there was a table spread out with the Meeting Agendas and Public Participation Sign-up sheets. Nobody was there to inform citizens that they had to sign-up before the meeting to speak to the School Board. Only one person signed up to speak. Ms. Nannette Leonhart signed up because she has attended many meetings and knows that you have to sign up or the School Board will not allow you to speak. The school board, under Chairman Robert “Luke” Queen does this to silence the public. And when you do sign up, you are only allowed three minutes.

The meeting started like any other meeting with an Invocation, a Pledge of Allegiance, adopt the Agenda and such.

Then the so-called Operations Committee, as noted on the agenda, gave a presentation to the public. Only thing was, there was no presentation to the public. The hired consultants gave a presentation to the School Board. The School Board had copies of the presentation in advance. The Public never got any advance copies (Except from me in previous articles).

The Presentation was projected on the auditorium Screen. And as I was seated on the very front row, all by myself, I could hardly read a word that was on the presentation or any graphs or maps.

Then Superintendent Dr. Stephen Fisher presented “something,” I don’t know what to call it, that basically states what he always states, CCS is so good and wonderful that all things have been evaluated and can be accomplished in an effective efficient manner. Basically, propaganda and indoctrination meant to deceive the public or whoever is watching the meeting video.

One thing Dr. Fisher pointed out many times was that the closing of two schools would NOT result in any CCS employee losing their jobs. Apparently forgetting that the basic reason for consolidating students into efficiently run schools at full capacity would reduce the waste of inefficient use of administrative staff. Sure, the same number of students would be consolidated into less facilities, but the number of teachers, teachers aids, bus drivers, lunchroom staff, etc. would be basically the same, but two sets of administrative staff would mostly NOT be needed. Anybody with any business sense would immediately recognize Superintendent Dr. Stephen Fisher for exactly what he is. A tax and spend liberal government bureaucrat. Spend every dime this fiscal year and ask for more next year. Of course, the loss of administrative staff needs doesn’t necessarily mean the surplus administration folks would immediately lose their jobs. CCS has attrition in the form of retirements, resignations, etc. that requires additional hiring on a regular basis. Just as the students are shifted from one school to another to achieve efficiency, shifting Administrative staff around and not hiring additional staff would accomplish the same thing. The same concept. Good leadership knows how to do this and not have to lose trained and experienced people.

After Dr. Fisher was finished, School Board member Phillip Glover stated that he was concerned about the TIMELINE of this school closing.? “Is there a rush to get this done?”
Mr. Glover stated that moving so many classrooms full of students right now would surely cause a halt to teaching students and suggested that and movement of students be delayed until times that school would already be out for the summer.

Dr. Fisher stated that there was “NO Shot Clock” to this Shelby school closing project. Making one wonder who was in charge” The School Board or Fisher.

The fact that School Board member Phillip Glover had been moved to ask such a simple, logical and basic set of questions as noted above, told me that the public was not the only ones kept in the dark by Luke Queen, Rodney Fitch, Ron Humphries, Joel Shores and Greg Taylor. Just another example of bad leadership by the Rogue Republican controlled school board.

Then, the Public Participation.

Ms. Leonhart, as previously noted, was the only person who had actually signed-up. Ms. Leonhart points out several technical discrepancies in the Report and then sits down. Ms. Leonhart notes that there was a discrepancy on page six of the Report. And then asks if the closed schools would be disposed of (Sold as surplus)? School Board member Danny Blanton replies that, by law, any surplus real property had to be first offered to the Cleveland County Commissioners before the property was offered up for sale to the public. This comment drew the ire of Luke Queen as he once again tried to shut down Danny Blanton by saying that the sale of the property did NOT have anything to do with this meeting. Blanton would not have anything to do with Luke’s phony rebuke. “She (Ms. Leonhart) asked about selling the property and that was the proper response” Blanton told Luke.

Chairman Robert “Luke” Queen, obviously relieved that nobody else had signed up to speak was ready to move on to something else. Danny Blanton speaks up again saying that there were likely others that wanted to speak to the School Board but did not know they had to sign up. Luke surely wanted to move on, but seeing me almost directly in front of him in the front row knew he would be well “blasted” by me if he called a special Public Meeting and then refused to allow the public to speak.

Luke Queen calls out to the very small audience in attendance and asks if anybody else wanted to speak. One lady raises her hand and approaches the podium.

The lady introduced herself as Clare Montgomery and then simply asked why the school board had not hired a local architect firm to do this study? Then she stated “people don’t know what is going on” with this school closing and other things at CCS. Clearly implying that the school board should be thinking about and communicating with the people more regarding what the school board was doing. “Amen” I was thinking as Ms. Montgomery walked back to her seat.

Luke Queen then stated that the reason no local architect was selected was because no local architect had submitted a bid.

Then Luke called on Fisher about any announcements. Fisher replied that NO canvass of people who would be affected by these student transfers and school closings had been contacted. NO WONDER THAT HARDLY ANYBODY HAD SHOWN UP for this Public hearing. (By design, of course.)

Danny Blanton stated that he had phone calls and Facebook requests for information.

Fisher states that there would be more information at the February School Board Meeting.

Stay Tuned!!!

Hey, Kings Mountain folks!! You are next!!!

The January 10, 2022 School Board Meeting was very telling in regard to exposing many deceptions perpetrated on Cleveland County citizens and taxpayers. Our latest series of articles have been breaking down and exposing waste and misrepresentation on a one-by-one basis. This particular article is going to expose one downright deception. A deceitful planned scheme of a deception to cover-up low test scores by CCS students and the over 50% (now) of students graduating that are not proficient in Reading, Writing and Math at the 9th grade level. A deception that also would cover-up CCS’s teaching Critical Race Theory, Common Core and other such indoctrination and divisive “trash,” instead of the Three R’s and other invaluable information that would serve you well for the rest of your life. Which is the purpose of our American Education system to start with.

CAUTION! If you are not interested in thinking for yourself, you might want to just exit this article right now and go watch Soap Operas on TV. Or fake news. Or something!!!

At the January 10, 2022 School Board meeting, Superintendent Stephen Fisher, once again, lamented that the North Carolina General Assembly had refused to listen to their requests for more so-called “flexibility” in the School Calendar. The General Assembly, for their part, has to consider what is best for the education of all students in all school districts over all of North Carolina. And has set standards such as the minimum number of instructional hours and such. The General Assembly says, within a range, when schools should start and when they finish within the year, holidays and such, and allows school districts to take the 365-day calendar (sometimes 366 days-Leap Year) and fit those school days within the calendar as the local district sees fit. Overall, the General Assembly has the responsibility to make the Billion$ spent on education in North Carolina be as effective as possible and consistent throughout the state. Sometimes I wonder just what CCS thinks their responsibility is. This is one of those times.

The sticking point for Supt. Fisher is the Christmas and New Year Holidays. And whether to schedule test before or after those holidays.

Fisher makes a good point that before the holidays the student’s lessons are more “fresh” and test scores would be higher than tests after the two-week holiday period. Those of us that drive knows that if you “brush up” on road signs, speed limits and such you will make better scores on your Driver’s License test. Everybody has “crammed” for exams at one time or another. So, on the surface, Fisher makes sense with his arguments.

Most everybody also knows that when you “slack off” during your schooling and then “cram” the night before the test, you also forget the lessons much sooner.

Another thought is that some schools have taken to “Teaching for the Test.” Knowing or guessing, from experience, what will most likely be on the standard tests and focusing school lesson plans on those areas and less on the other areas of the subject. Perhaps for making time to teach the indoctrination materials, Critical Race Theory, etc., that the Schools received grants to teach.

Either way, students test scores have consistently dropped for the last 50 years and many graduating students can’t read cursive, sign their names on their small paychecks, read the measurement off a tape measure or make change for a $20 bill.

Note: I graduated from high school in 1965. when the USA was Number 1 in the World in education. Now, we are not even in the top 10. There are reasons for that!!!

So, one has to “wonder” about some things. Some basic things and then some “critical thinking” kinds of things.

Like:
Why does North Carolina fund public schools and education to start with?

Let’s just stick with a simple answer. NC supports education because an educated workforce will earn more money and, therefore, pay more taxes. Actually, that answer is good enough to move on to the next level.

Why does “Raleigh” require school districts to “test” student achievement?

Again, a simple answer. “Raleigh” requires testing students to ensure consistent education across the state and to make sure low achievement school districts are identified for remedial actions.

What is EDUCATION?

Education is a process that includes both:
1. the act of teaching knowledge to others and
2. the act of receiving knowledge from someone else.
3.Education also refers to the knowledge received through schooling or instruction and to the institution of teaching as a whole.

A quality education provides a person the knowledge and skills necessary to best utilize that person’s natural talent for the rest of that person’s life.

NOTE: “For the rest of that person’s life.”

Now, things get a little more complicated.

What is a TEST?

A TEST is a procedure or process intended to establish the quality, performance, or reliability of something, especially before it is taken into widespread use.

If you scroll back a little to “What is Education?” you find there are two components to the Education Process. The first is the TEACHING to someone and the second is the LEARNING by someone. Supt Fisher and the School Board only talked about the student’s testing. Nary a word about any kind of testing the quality, performance or reliability of Cleveland County Schools in doing THEIR part in the Education process-TEACHING TO students. Remember that!!!

Now, we are getting to the nub of the school schedule issue. Test students before the Christmas-New Year holidays OR AFTER.

Since our basic public-school education’s purpose is to teach students the lessons they need for the rest of their lives, the answer is simple.

TESTING AFTER the holidays gives a better indication of the student’s mastery of that particular subject. Even though we KNOW that the scores would have been better if tested before the holidays. But what is more important? Knowing that the Education process is working or NOT working. Testing before the holidays only serves to HIDE deficiencies in the education process. The CCS part of the education process.

My Conclusions:
It seems that Superintendent Stephen Fisher and the Rogue Republicans are scheming to falsely “Puff-up” student test scores for the sole purpose of making CCS look better than it actually is. Which is knowingly bad. Thus, better test scores would falsely imply that CCS has made improvements to its Education Process, when in fact there was NO IMPROVEMENT. And surely NO IMPROVEMENT during the COVID lockdowns.

This is part of Fisher’s MO. This is why CCS spent around $17 Million building the unnecessary NEW North Shelby School to hook onto the failing James Love Elementary School to hide James Love’s failures by changing “Categories” instead of actually making the necessary improvements to James Loves teaching methods-or whatever to stave off “Raleigh” taking over.

This is why CCS is making changes to the Shelby Elementary School Attendance Zones under the guise of improving school facility utilization by closing certain schools and shifting students around. The most vulnerable students-elementary school students.

This is also why CCS is hiding teaching Critical Race Theory, Common Core and other phony indoctrinations instead of actually teaching the basic subjects. The three “R’s.”

Superintendent Stephen Fisher, School Board Rogue Republicans Rodney Fitch, Luke Queen, Ron Humphries, Joel Shores and Greg Taylor are invited (and “dared”) to respond to this article. You and your sycophants calling me a “Liar” and “Crazy” on Fake-news Facebook don’t count. Neither do phony press releases published in the Shelby Star.

Forrest Gump had if right all along, “a fool is, as a fool does!”

School Board Chairman Robert “Luke” Queen and his Rogue Republican sycophants (Rodney Fitch, Ron Humphries, Joel Shores and Greg Taylor), after being properly warned of numerous problems and issues with going ahead with their flawed and ill considered plans to build brand new auditoriums onto 55 plus year old Burns and Crest High Schools, had to go to FULL-STOP on those plans for the simplest of reasons. CCS had already wasted too much money on other things and didn’t have enough cash in hand to even pay for the lowest bid to construct those auditoriums. And, the Commissioners flat turned them down just a couple days prior to the Low Bid acceptance drop-dead date. BAD Planning and BAD Advice all around. Especially by Luke Queen and his secret and illegal wheeling and dealing!!!

This saga actually begins in 1954, when I was in the process of graduating First Grade at the Old Fallston School, with the Brown vs. Board of Education Ruling by the US Supreme Court. Leaving out all the details (for your reading convenience), that ruling was the basis for Burns and Crest High Schools NOT having auditoriums and swimming pools to start with. Now, let’s fast forward to 2016 when the Cleveland County Schools School Board first mentioned putting new auditoriums onto these 50 plus year-old schools.

In 2016, I had already retired from 42 years Engineering experience that included major construction projects specializing in Mechanical and HVAC experience that included designing HVAC for auditoriums. And, for curiosity, I researched recent construction of new auditoriums onto existing American schools. I found a good example of adding a new auditorium to an existing school that had just been completed in the town of Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin for $8 million. WAY less than bid prices for the Auditoriums at Burns and Crest.

Folks, I started an article about 8-10 days ago regarding these Burns and Crest Auditoriums in comparison with the Auditorium built in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin for $8 million. This is what WE could have also had if we, the CCS School Board, had any sense. I have some pictures for you. Two angle shots from inside and a shot from the outside. If the school board had been serious in 2016, this is what they could have had for $8 million each. $16 Million total. This is the article I didn’t get finished before the events of January 21, 2022 proved me 100% right.

Budget for Auditoriums at Burns and Crest WAY-WAY Over!!!
TOO Much Waste elsewhere and NO planning except BAD planning!!!
School Board and Chairman Robert “Luke” Queen fully to blame!!!
Commissioners need to step up and withhold funds!!
Report, project saving research and recommendations by Robert A. Williams

Folks, I received a message from a trusted source that the HVAC broke down at Crest High School yesterday and classroom temperatures plunged to 23 degrees, CCS HVAC Maintenance was short two people due to COVID. The HVAC was finally started, ran for about seven minutes and shut itself down again. I don’t know what happened after that.

I have received other reports that all the HVAC at Shelby, Kings Mountain, Burns and Crest High Schools need to be replaced. Imagine that. Four High Schools with bad HVAC units all at the same time.

Other reports are that both the Burns and Crest gymnasiums have had new HVAC Units installed in recent weeks.

Since I have 42 years of engineering experience with HVAC on big Navy Nuclear Ships (Aircraft Carriers) and Big Nuclear Power plants, I know exactly what the problem at CCS is. Bad Management. Bad Maintenance, Bad Organizational skills. Bad Planning. Wasteful Spending. NO Priorities! AND NO ACCOUNTABILITY. The Cleveland County Commissioners should immediately withhold all county funding to Cleveland County Schools until further notice. And continuing the withholding until CCS gets the message.

NOW, let’s talk, like we’ve got some sense, about Auditoriums at Burns and Crest High Schools. And the positive HVAC impact those Auditoriums would have at the schools and in the community; if common sense is properly applied.

Also note that I have taken the opportunity to study the “Auditorium Question” at Burns and Crest for many years, especially since the subject was brought up by School Board Member Phillip Glover in 2016. Unfortunately for political purposes. Here are some of my findings:

Ashwaubenon Performing Arts Center
History
The Ashwaubenon Performing Arts Center (PAC) opened its doors in November 2016 with a United States Air Force Starlifter band concert, offered free-of-charge to the public. This beautiful Center is a state-of-the-art, 736-seat nonprofit performance venue built for the artistic and theatrical enrichment of the community members of the Village of Ashwaubenon and surrounding Greater Green Bay area. The PAC actively presents regional, national, and international touring entertainment and also serves as home to school and community musicals, plays, concerts, and theatre programs.
Unique to Ashwaubenon, the facility is funded through the Village and situated on School District property, and its usage is shared nearly 50/50 between the schools and community. The PAC welcomes students, families, greater Green Bay area residents, and performing arts lovers of all ages!

ASHWAUBENON HIGH SCHOOL

As a result of a needs analysis, exploration of potential solutions, and a village-wide survey, Bray worked closely with both the Ashwaubenon School District and Village of Ashwaubenon to develop a four-question referendum to address renovations to the Ashwaubenon High School and community spaces. The referendum passed in April 2014.
The referendum included a new Performing Arts Center and renovations to the Pool. These spaces are primarily used by Ashwaubenon High School but can also be utilized for community events.
The new auditorium is fully equipped with a full-fly loft, LED theatrical lighting and a seating capacity of 730. The space also includes new dressing rooms, a green room, and a connection from the existing school to the new addition.
The new 8-lane pool replaces the school’s smaller 5-lane pool and allows the school to host larger swim and dive competitions. Located above the new team locker rooms is seating for up to 500 people and offers an enhanced, elevated view of the space. This project also features the creation of a separate 1,500 square foot warm-water pool which can be used for open swim, aquatic therapy and swim lessons.

Folks, before we get back to the details of Luke Queen’s Friday January 21, 2022 special; called secret School Board meeting, consider this: If the CCS School Board had not let themselves be “hood-winked” into building an unnecessary NEW North Shelby School, auditoriums just like this could have been built at both Burns and Crest High Schools for half a million dollars less than the New North Shelby School final cost. And would have been put to good use years ago.

Back to the original topic of this article: Luke Queen’s secret called school board meeting held at 10:00 AM Friday January 21, 2022.

Note that I call this called meeting a SECRET meting because Luke refused to give proper notification or an agenda for this meeting as required by NC Law. Luke’s purpose was clear-keep the meeting secret from the public until the school board’s decision was done and over with, and without public attendance or input into the meeting. However, Nannette Leonhart discovered the agenda on the School Board website Thursday evening and called me. I found it too. But too late to get the word to the public. Nannette and myself were the only two citizens to attend that meeting.

Luke was also unsuccessful in keeping Danny Blanton away from the meeting. Although Danny Blanton had a previous scheduled appointment in Charlotte later that morning, Danny Showed up to the meeting and made the arrangements to hook up by telephone to the meeting as he was driven to his appointment in Charlotte by his wife. It was a bad day for Luke and his Rogue Republicans as they were thwarted in every part of their planned scheme to keep the public away from their meeting that was filled with bad news for the Rogues, And good news for the public.

The first thing the Rogue Republicans did in this special called meeting was to go into closed session for a discussion with their lawyer. They had to go into closed session in another room because Nannette Leonhart and I were sitting there in attendance. Watching the Rogues like hawks.

The Closed Session lasted exactly one hour and two minutes. When the School Board came back into Open Session, they declared that they were $5.7 Million short of the $27,7 Million low bid by Beam Construction. They did not mention the fact that they had sent Supt. Fisher to the Cleveland County Commissioners for that $5.7 Million and the Commissioners turned them down. The Commissioners had previously told the School Board that the Commissioners required the School Board to develop a detailed Strategic Plan for new capitol construction that included priorities before the Commissioners would provide additional funding for anything. And the School Board refused to comply. Because the school board had refused to comply with the Commissioner’s reasonable (and fiduciarily responsible) requirements, Supt. Fisher came back to CCS empty handed. It is of NOTE that School Board Chairman Luke Queen did NOT accompany Supt. Fisher to talk to the Commissioners. But after Luke Queen lied to the Commissioners about his CCC Board of Trustees appointment, it was obvious that Luke Queen is pretty much toast in the esteem of the Commissioners. Which is NOT good for CCS and CCC.

So, then Supt. Fisher went through a “conniption fit” of a history of CCS’s funding methods for the construction of the new auditoriums for Burns and Crest. These methods were totally based on requesting grants from various sources prior to the use of local funding.

Local funding would have consisted of CCS saving a portion of each years CCS Budget funding and setting it aside in a special fund for the Construction of the Burns and Crest Auditoriums. Or new schools as the old schools age and reach the ends of their useful fife. Every year CCS spends every bit of its funding and asks for more next year. A typical bureaucratic MO, honed to a fine edge by Fisher, Queen and the School Board. But totally bad for long range planning.

Then, Supt. Fisher offered two options to the School Board.
1.Go ahead and sign a contract with Beam Construction and start construction, knowing that the funding was NOT in hand, Putting a major challenge onto the CCS Budget.
Or
2.Delay the construction of the Auditoriums until new grant money could be applied for and approved. Never mentioning cutting back any of the wasteful spending at CCS.

The School Board chose Option 2. Delay the construction of the Auditoriums.

All the while, Burns and Crest will be soon be 60 years old and aging more every day.
Further advancing the reasoning for NOT building new multi-million-dollar attachments onto very old schools. Already infested with Mold and probably asbestos galore.

All this represents clear examples of bad management all around at CCS.

Also, it appears the Commissioners may seem to finally have awaken to the idea that good management practices must be utilized by all agencies that receive taxpayer funding. Just like I have challenged them to do. Which would be good. My conclusion is a little different. I predict the refusal of the Commissioners to provide additional funding to CCS is more a function of the Commissioners being afraid that their own new $150 Million Jail Complex and the new $8.5 No. 4 Shell building project has a high risk of going way over budget themselves, wrecking their own projects funding budgets by cost over-runs for CCS . Especially if they give $5.7 million to CCS for the new auditoriums.

What I would recommend fir CCS is this:
1.CCS build nothing new until a “real” Strategic Plan is developed for a Consolidated County School District, doing away with the old and outdated so-called “attendance zones” within Cleveland County borders.
2. Select the optimum or preferred size (attendance) of a High School and determine how many high schools are necessary in Cleveland County. Then determine how many high schools are required for all the students in Cleveland County
3.Develop a single modern design high school that includes equal facilities for each and every high school. Classrooms, auditorium, gymnasium with centralized HVAC, football field, baseball field, tennis courts with equal provisions for boys’ and girls’ sports.
4.Select the center of the number of attendance zones (based on the latest census data), selected in paragraph 2.
5.Construct this same design High School as close to the center of the attendance zone in a sequence such that a new high school is constructed every 5 years.
6.Using the location of the new high schools as the center, around which smaller middle schools and elementary schools would be constructed to best suit this model.

Note that these recommendations are of a general nature suitable for refinement to include roads, school bus routes, natural boundaries, etc.

Also Note that this general plan is 10,000 times more refined and equal than any plan CCS has developed on their own to this date.

A trusted source has informed me that the Rogue Republicans; Rodney Fitch. Luke Queen, Ron Humphries, Joel Shores and RINO Greg Taylor have called a special meeting Tomorrow, January 21, 2022 to approve the overpriced and under functioned auditoriums for Burns and Crest High Schools. Per original estimates the auditoriums will cost about four times the original estimates and provide only about half the original request for construction. (The original needs included the auditoriums plus 10 classrooms at Burns and 8 Classrooms at Crest. Now, the 18 classrooms have been deleted from the plans with little to no discussion. Only cover-up.)

Also, Danny Blanton has a previously scheduled medical procedure scheduled for tomorrow, so the Rogues rescheduled this meeting from this past Tuesday to tomorrow.

Also 2, according to reports, the Rogues are holding this meeting for Board Members only and not inviting the public.

Folk, the Rogues noted above, by calling such a meeting as this, would violate every “Sunshine Law” on the books. Every Open Meeting law and probably a few more laws that I have not come across yet. And, why not? The Cleveland County DA Mike Miller won’t prosecute.

So, the only thing left to do is call on the Cleveland County Commissioners to shut down ALL funding to Cleveland County Schools AND Cleveland Community College until further notice. The commissioners should withhold all county funding until both CCS and CCC develop detailed and reasonable (to suit Commissioners) plans and associated, priorities down to the penny in funding. The Commissioners should demand that CCS and CCC submit everything they plan to do and every penny they spend for Commissioners approval, prior to providing any amount of funding. And make everything a public record and everything available and convenient for the public to see and ask questions about. And if anybody at CCS or CCC complains, ask for each member of the two Boards, CCS and CCC to immediately resign from office.

It is a shame, but Board Members like Rodney Fitch, Luke Queen. Ron Humphries, Wes Westmoreland, Dennis Bailey and the others have created a swamp that demands to be drained. The education of our children depends on it.

Editor’s Note: This exercise is NOT in any way to be confused with any criticism of any student at Cleveland County Schools. It is an exercise to logically recognize the way CCS administration may try to deceive the public in their actual overall performance in the Education of ALL of our students.

CCS Superintendent Dr. Stephen Fisher spent a goodly amount of time during the January 10th, 2022 School Board meeting informing the School Board that the CCS Early College High School had a graduation Rate of 100%. Really bragging about how good Cleveland County Schools are. Supt. Fisher spent ZERO time talking about graduating rates at the other four high schools. And NOBODY on the School Board asked one question.

That is the scenario. Let’s analyze the situation in a logical manner and see what we can tell from the results of logical analysis.

Subject being analyzed: CCS Early College had a 100% Graduation Rate.

Facts:
The CCS Early College is located on the Campus of Cleveland Community College where the students take both high school courses and sufficient college courses to earn an a CCC Associate Certificate at the end of their time at the Early College.
The Students that attend CCS Early College are hand-picked from the regular high schools because of their already good grades and an already recognized exceptional academic potential.

Question: What is the big deal that such students would have a 100% graduation rate?

Answer: All these students would have been expected to graduate from this CCS Early College Program or they would not have been accepted into the Early College to begin with. The 100% graduation rate was expected. If there was NOT a 100% graduation rate, then the big would have been Why NOT 100%!!

Conclusion: CCS Superintendent Dr. Stephen Fisher was exhibiting deceptive messaging tactics in an attempt to generate false positive thoughts such that anyone listening; School Board members, News organizations such as the Shelby Star and other low information persons who might not be well versed with the facts and the use of logical thinking methods would accept those false statements without a second thought.

Lesson Learned: Folks, do your due diligence. Get yourself informed and when you are fed false and deceptive statements, call out the offender. Whether it be Supt. Fisher, School Board members Rodney Fitch, Luke Queen, Ron Humphries, Joel Shores, Greg Taylor or anybody else.

The great and wonderful Cleveland County School Board has officially called for and voted to hold a PUBLIC HEARING for 6:00 pm Tuesday January 25, 2022 at the CCS Central Offices located at 400 W. Marion Street, Shelby, NC.

Then School Board Chairman Robert ”Luke” Queen; with the help of Rodney Fitch, Ron Humphries, Joel Shores and Greg Taylor, illegal change it to a PUBLIC MEETING.

NOW, Luke, Rodney, Ron, Joel and Greg have changed the meeting again to a Public Forum.

Except, this so-called Public Forumis NOT a public forum where the PUBLIC actually gets to decide anything.

But folks, Don’t believe me!!! YOU can read this so-called Public Forum Agenda for yourself!!! That Agenda was found on the CCS Website, quite by accident, looking for something else. It is provided below!!!

Jan 25-2022 Public Forum Agenda

Note that the PUBLIC is only allowed to SPEAK during the Public Participation part of the Agenda. And the Public Participation rules only allow a total of 15 minutes total time and the time per person is only 3 minutes. Go over 3 minutes and Robert Queen will require you to stop. And if you don’t stop, you are deemed “disrupting” the meeting and Luke, along with Rodney, Ron, Joel and Greg can have you removed and prosecuted by District Attorney Mike Miller.

Shelby folks, those are the CCS Board Meeting Public Participation Rules and a prime example of the CCS Board’s Rogues planned schemes. If you don’t believe me, look them up for yourself.

Also note that YOU, the public, will have been provided very little information (Except what I have provided to YOU) from CCS only minutes before you will be allowed to speak. ALMOST ZERO time to process the information. It is a planned scheme to keep you as ignorant as 50% plus of the CCS graduating Seniors who can’t read, write and do arithmetic at the 9th Grade level. Just think about this. I have written and published four straight articles about this so-called Facilities Assessment. How many packets of information has Rodney Fitch, Luke Queen, Ron Humphries, Joel Shores sent YOU???

This is the Agenda for the January 25, 2022 Special Called Meeting. NOW titled a Public Forum!!! All I can suggest now is that YOU show up and do your duty to ensure YOUR kids are properly educated. Since I don’t live in Shelby, I won’t be saying a word. I do plan to attend, but I will only be watching and listening. YOU are on your own!!!

My prediction is only a handful of YOU will show up and speak. I would like to be proved wrong!!!

I also realize that if enough people call Luke, Rodney, Ron, Joel and Greg, this Agenda can be changed. This whole corrupt process can be changed. But I am not betting on that to happen.

Kings Mountain Folks, YOU are NEXT!!

Folks, I thought I had said enough about the closing of Shelby Elementary Schools as a phony use of the so-called School Board’s Facilities Assessment that is the basis for this Public Hearing related to closing some Shelby Elementary School(s). I don’t believe anything I said was incorrect, Just incomplete. There is one more critical component driving the Rogue Republican School Board. One more thing the Rogues, Rodney Fitch, Robert “Luke” Queen, Ron Humphries, Joel Shores, Greg Taylor and the behind the scene sneaks, Dennis Bailey, Wes Westmoreland, Kevin Whisnant, David Allen and a few others desperately want to cover up. Especially since they have had control for over a year and have done nothing (good) about the problem. FAILING SCHOOLS!!! FAILING ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS!!!

If you remember, a few years ago when the School Board just had to build a NEW North Shelby School. Then they just had to hook it on to the James Love Elementary School. And waste $17 million$ in the process. All because James Love was graded a “Failing School” for a number of years and the North Carolina STATE Board of Education was about to take control of running James Love. By hooking on the new North Shelby School to James Love, James Love went into another category school and the Clock was reset before the State took over.

Now, there are indications that James Love has continued to be a failing school, even in this new category, and the State HAS come in and taken over running the operations of James Love Elementary School.

There is MORE.

There were other Failing Elementary Schools in the so-called Shelby Attendance Zone. Graham is one and perhaps there are others. CCS has already tried other cover-up tricks, like switching around Principles, to stave off and delay eminent State takeover. To no avail. It is likely Graham Elementary School has already been taken over by the State. And the COVID pandemic and the ensuing school lockdowns have been used so far to cover up that situation.

So, to keep the “cat IN the bag,” (so to speak) the Rogues now appear to have spent tons of money bringing in these Facilities Assessment people and gave them “Guiding Principles” to do everything but assess the facilities. To move elementary school kids around so the CLOSE THE GAP efforts are diverted from teaching Reading, Writing and Arithmetic to indoctrinating our kids with Critical Race Theory (CRT), Transformative Social Emotional Learning and CRT components by other phony names. Even indoctrinating 3-year-old disabled kids, as was revealed by Ms. Nannette Leonhart at the January 10, 2022 School Board meeting. And Rodney Fitch, Luke Queen, Ron Humphries, Joel Shores and Greg Taylor never said a word or batted an eye.

So, Shelby Folks, there you are. Another item to ask Rodney Fitch, Luke, Ron, Joel and Greg about at the January 25, 2022 Public Hearing. Or, perhaps you would like to call them and ask about this over the telephone. Their numbers are listed below. I suspect all the other School Board Members have been kept in the dark about the School Closing details, so these folks would be the ones I recommend calling.

Rodney Fitch—704-974-2647 or 980-522-6239

Robert “Luke” Queen—704-477-0105

Ron Humphries—704-472-2764

Joel Shores—704-418-4155

Greg Taylor—704-477-6457

Shelby Folks, I have provided you the best instructions on how to access the so-called Facilities Assessment and just a few thoughts on just some of the many problems. This is YOUR Schools and YOUR Children. It is up to YOU, from here on, whether or not YOU read the Assessment, attend this Public Hearing (Public Meeting) and speak out. Whether YOU do what is stupid or do what is smart is on YOU. Otherwise, YOU know as much as I do. These screwballs surely don’t want to tell me the truth about anything.

Wake up Kings Mountain Folks, YOU are next.

Stay tuned.

PS: Shelby folks, I just got ahold of the agenda for this January 25, 2022 Public Hearing. I will send it to you in a Part 4 article as I already know YOU are going to be pissed-off.

Folks, be sure to read the original article regarding how to access the School Board’s Facilities Assessment that is the basis for this Public Hearing related to closing some Shelby Elementary School(s).

I have pulled up and read what this Facilities Assessment had to say and provided my comments below.

Part 2. Begins HERE:

Anyway, I pulled up this so-called Facilities Assessment, that is in reality only an Executive Summary. Which means all the “details” are left out of this document. And everybody KNOWS that the “Devil is in the details.” And if the details are left out, this meeting will be worthless from start to finish. This is undisputedly a planned scheme, clearly dedicated to deceive the public.

And, that ain’t all.

What you would expect from a “Facilities” Assessment would be that the Assessment would be of the facilities themselves. Whether the buildings and equipment are safe, functional, energy efficient and free of asbestos and other toxins. OR broken down, worn-out, energy hogs, wasteful and full of asbestos and of toxic fumes. You will find NOTHING like that in THESE Facilities Assessment/Executive Summary Documents.

What you will mostly find, regarding closing schools, is Shelby “Zone” school attendance trends and estimated future changes in school utilization. And, even that is flawed and incomplete.

Some of the things you will not find in this phony document is any mention of Pinnacle Classical Academy or any of the other Charter Schools that have siphoned Cleveland County students away form CCS. Or Home Schools. Or Private Schools. Completely ignoring the FACT that a change in State Law that would allow school funding to “follow the student” would immediately result in a huge surge in Charter Schools, Church Schools, Private Schools and Home Schools. Simply because parents are tired of the failed public schools in Cleveland County and would seek out these alternate schools so their children will get a better education for the money that is spent educating them. And, who could blame these parents. Information indicates Public Schools in Cleveland County pass students with an average grade of 45 and still less that half the graduating students are proficient at the 9th grade level. And Rodney Fitch, Luke Queen, Ron Humphries, Joel Shores and Greg Taylor, after a full year in office, have never suggested ANYTHING to change that status quo. And Danny Blanton brings it up about every School Board Meeting. Only to be shut down by Luke Queen and the other Rogue Republicans that are trying to get Blanton defeated in the 2022 Republican Primary Elections.

Another glaring omission in this phony document is the “Race Card.” There is a lot of discussion about moving elementary students from one school to another to better utilize the use of the Elementary Schools and close the ones that are not necessary. Completely ignoring the fact some of the neglected schools, that are heavily attended by inner-city black students will be mixed in with other schools that are presently heavily attended by white students from more affluent neighborhoods. Since the City of Shelby is over 40% Black, this represents a severe and disruptive “culture shock” in the elementary school population where such basic components of a child’s education are formed. Any educational disruption at this stage of a child’s educational achievement is clearly proven to negatively affect the child’s educational accomplishments for the rest of the child’s life. Affecting both black students and white students alike.

Again, I found nothing in this phony Assessment that addresses this long-lived Race issue in Shelby and Cleveland County. Rodney, Luke, Ron, Joel and Greg apparently forgot to address this race “education gap” issue. Or, most likely, purposely ignored it. As usual.

The sad part of this scenario is that the folks conducting this Assessment have been given “Guiding Principles” by the School Board on how this assessment was to be performed and what goals they (the school board) want to achieve. Rodney Fitch, Luke Queen, Ron Humphries, Joel Shores and Greg Taylor (advised by Wes Westmoreland, Dennis Bailey, David Allen, Kevin Whisnant and a few others) are the GUILTY PARTIES in such a destructive direction that Cleveland County Schools is heading in. All I can do is point out the facts.

Shelby Folks, I have provided you the best instructions on how to access the so-called Facilities Assessment and just a few thoughts on just some of the many problems. This is YOUR Schools and YOUR Children. It is up to YOU, from here on, whether or not YOU read the Assessment, attend this Public Hearing (Public Meeting) and speak out. Whether YOU do what is stupid or do what is smart is on YOU. Otherwise, I am done with you.

Wake up Kings Mountain Folks, YOU are next.

Stay tuned.

The great and wonderful Cleveland County School Board has officially called for and voted to hold a PUBLIC HEARING for 6:00 pm Tuesday January 25, 2022 at the CCS Central Offices located at 400 W. Marion Street, Shelby, NC. If you want to know the details about which schools in the Shelby ZONE, I suggest you call School Board Member Rodney Fitch at 704-974-2647 or 980-522-6239 for the Shelby school closing details. Note that those telephone numbers are public information, but Mr. Fitch has been known NOT to answer or return phone calls.

Also, my cursory search of the CCS Website Notice did not show any listing of this of this PUBLIC HEARING anywhere one would normally look to find such information. The CCS Calendar of events is blank for Jan 25, 2022. The School Board meeting schedule is blank for Jan 25, 2022. Plus, I could find no entries of any information related to this Public Hearing on Closing some Shelby Schools. However, if you attended the January 10, 2022 School Board meeting or watched the video, you would have seen the School Board schedule this PUBLIC HEARING.

Note that Public Hearings are required by North Carolina law to be advertised at least 10 days in advance. And today is January 16, 2022. Within that 10 Day notice requirement and there has been NO Announcement in accordance with North Carolina Law.

What you do have is an article today in the Shelby Star stating that the School Board will be having a Public MEETING at this time and date. Public Meetings and Public Hearings, legally, are miles apart. I went back to the CCS videos and verified EXACTLY what the School Board voted on. Danny Blanton made the motion to hold a PUBLIC HEARING and at every discussion it was a PUBLIC HEARING that was voted on. NOW, Robert “Luke” Queen and his sycophant Rodney Fitch have illegally changed the direction of a 9-0 vote by the School Board to hold a PUBLIC HEARING, to only a Public Meeting.

These kinds of changes by Luke and Rodney and maybe others may seem like small potatoes, but they are totally illegal and only FOOLS do such things.

Also, and I mean ALSO, since the School Board voted for a Public Hearing; this so-called a Public Meeting by the Shelby Star is of lesser legal standing and can be held and then the school board could officially vote to do what they please. Justified by holding a PUBLIC HEARING as they voted to do. A clear public deception at best or a planned scheme at the worst. In any case, it is clearly wrong and shows a definite disregard for the law b

My recommendation to you Shelby folks is to beware. Turn out and see for yourself what these fools on the school board are about to do. Call Rodney Fitch at the numbers previously noted above. Ask Rodney, a sworn officer of the law, why he does not arrest himself, Luke Queen, Ron Humphries and Joel Shores for impersonating real school board members.

Wouldn’t that be a hoot!!!

PS: All you Shelby folks with kids in school, If Rodney Fitch, Luke Queen, Ron Humphries and Joel Shores refuse to take your calls about what is going on with this Public Hearing, you should pull-up the January 10, 2022 School Board Meeting video, play it to one hour and 47 seconds and notice the message scrolled across the bottom of the screen that says To view the presentation slides, visit: rebrand.ly/facilities-assessment and see what that gets you.

These Rogue Republicans on the School Board sure like to hide their information deep. Hoping YOU, and especially ME, won’t take the time to look. But hey, there is snow on the ground and on the roads and I ain’t going nowhere else today.

Note: Shelby folks, of you cut and paste rebrand.ly/facilities-assessment into your browser, the expensive, yet worthless (per another analysis in another article) Facilities Assessment will pop up on your screen. It is a 21-page document and the Shelby Attendance Zone begins on page 19. Call Rodney Fitch if you have any questions. And, be sure to turn out to the Public Hearing on January 25, 2022 at 6:00 PM at the CCS Central Offices located at 400 West Marion Street in Shelby. Be prepared to get pissed-off; and arrested if you complain. You “domestic terrorist” as you will soon be called!!! Maybe Rodney Fitch can get you a bail bondsman. If YOU are a good-looking mother, I’m pretty sure Luke Queen will come to your “rescue.”